I have a folder for my client code, a folder for my server code, and a folder for code that is shared between them
Proj/
Client/
Client.py
Server/
Server.py
Common/
__init__.py
Common.py
How do I import Common.py from Server.py and Client.py?
Python 2.6 and 3.x supports proper relative imports, where you can avoid doing anything hacky. With this method, you know you are getting a relative import rather than an absolute import. The '..' means, go to the directory above me:
from ..Common import Common
As a caveat, this will only work if you run your python as a module, from outside of the package. For example:
python -m Proj
This method is still commonly used in some situations, where you aren't actually ever 'installing' your package. For example, it's popular with Django users.
You can add Common/ to your sys.path (the list of paths python looks at to import things):
import sys, os
sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', 'Common'))
import Common
os.path.dirname(__file__)
just gives you the directory that your current python file is in, and then we navigate to 'Common/' the directory and import 'Common' the module.